Dental Patient Information – Silver Spring, MD
Preparing for a Great First Visit
We hope that your first appointment with Dr. Gakavian is just the first step in a long and fruitful relationship between you and our Silver Spring team. To make sure that the visit goes off without a hitch, we’d like to take the opportunity to go over what you can expect at your appointment and what you can do to get ready. You can ask us any questions you might still have after reading this page by reaching out to our office.
Your First Appointment
We welcome new patients and seek to make your appointment as easy as possible. Once your first appointment is made, please go to the Form section of our website and print the first four forms to complete and bring with you to your appointment. We ask that you arrive 10 minutes prior to your appointment in case there are any questions. Our office values your time and places a priority on operating in a timely manner. If there is any delay on our part, we will inform you upon your arrival.
If we determine that you already have current and relevant radiographic images, we ask that you visit the records transfer form section of our website to copy and provide a form to your previous dental office(s) so we will have all necessary records at the time of your first visit. We also ask that you have all Bite-Wing images that are less than one year old to be sent to our office. Please also have any Full Mouth Series and Panographs that are less than five years old sent to us.
We request that all patients wear a mask inside of the office.
Online Patient Forms
For your convenience, and to save time at your first appointment, you may fill out and complete the necessary forms prior to your appointment online by clicking the link below.
Transfer of Records
Please have radiographs (x-rays) and any records sent to administrator@drgakavian.com. Kindly note that this address is not for routine communication such as requesting prescriptions or to cancel appointments. It is solely for communication between us and other doctor’s offices. Please call our office for all administrative matters in order we can serve you in a timely manner.
Dental Insurance
Insurance is what makes quality dentistry affordable for many patients, and at our practice we want as many people as possible to have access to our preventive, restorative, and emergency services. We take many different dental PPOs, and we make a point of working with each and every patient to show them what benefits are available and how they can take advantage of them. Click the link below for a brief guide to insurance and how you can use it to pay for your care.
Learn More About Dental Insurance
CareCredit Financing
Patients who find it hard to cover the out-of-pocket costs of their care may want to take advantage of third-party financing. This option lets them pay a little bit of the cost each month at a rate that fits comfortably into their budget. At our office, we can help you apply for CareCredit financing, which lets you pick from several different plans that carry little to no interest. You can pre-apply for CareCredit right now if you click the link below.
Emergencies
For our patients of record Dr. Gakavian can be reached for dental emergencies during regular business hours by contacting the office at 301-236-0660. For emergencies after business hours please call 301-742-2596 and leave a message including name, phone number and a brief description of your emergency. For those times that Dr. Gakavian is not available, a local dentist will be on call for him.
Please do not use the emergency number for administrative matters such as making appointments. Contact our office during normal business hours for all non-emergency related issues.
Specialists Care Emergencies
If Dr. Gakavian has referred you to a specialist and you have an emergency pertaining to the treatment received while you are under the care of a specialist, please contact the office of the specialist with your concern as the doctor will be most familiar with your case and can best answer and meet your needs. For example, if you were seen by an oral surgeon to remove a tooth and there is a problem with pain or swelling at the extraction site, please contact the oral surgeon’s office.
Canceling Appointments
If you are unable to keep your appointment, we ask that you give us 48 hours’ notice prior to your appointment. If you are unavoidably delayed, we would appreciate your consideration to notify us as soon as possible in order that we may serve you most efficiently. Your appointment is our personal reservation for your care and as such we ask that you be prompt so that we can devote that time specifically set aside for you to serve your dental needs. We understand that everyone is very busy so we respect our patients’ time, thus, it may be necessary to reschedule an appointment for late arrivals in order that we maintain the integrity of the schedule. Our goal is to do our very best to ensure that you are seen and treated at the time we appointed for you.
Appointment Notification
We will contact you by either email or text message (your choice) 4 days prior to your appointment as a courtesy reminder. Repeated missed appointments may require us to charge a cancellation fee or to terminate our dentist/patient relationship with you since we schedule a specific period of time for each patient.
Charges and Collection Fees
Dr. Gakavian and his staff will work with you concerning the payment and financial arrangement of your treatment in our office. Prior to your procedure we inform you of the overall expense and what your responsibility as the patient will be. Please come prepared to pay the anticipated fees at the time of treatment.
In the case of a multiple appointment treatment, we ask for approximately 50% of the patient responsibility cost at the time of the first visit and the remaining balance at the last visit.
We do not send monthly statements as we seek to keep our overhead as low as possible. We prefer to focus our attention on you as a patient meeting your needs rather than adding administrative expenses to our services. We accept Debit Cards, Visa, Master Card, American Express, personal checks and cash. There is a $35 fee for all returned checks.
Cell Phone Policy
In consideration of staff and fellow patients, we ask that you silence your cell phone and take any necessary phone conversations outside the office. In order that we use our time in the operatories efficiently, we ask that you limit your text messaging and your silent electronic device usage to the reception area only. We thank you for your understanding.